After working as a Fuller brush salesman and an advertising executive specializing in toy accounts, Herman G. Fisher spent four years as Vice President of Alderman-Fairchild (a.k.a. All Fair, Inc.), a toymaker in located in Churchville, New York. In 1930 he left All Fair to establish Fisher-Price Toy Company, backed by a retired chain store executive, Irving Price, and a toy store owner, Helen M. Schelle (1893-1984).

In 1935 Fisher-Price became the first toymaker licensed to manufacture toys based on Walt Disney's cartoon characters. During World War II the company ceased production of toys and instead manufactured such wartime necessities as medical and ammunition chests and small ship and airplane parts, but after resuming the manufacture of toys the company had its greatest success in the post-war "baby boom" years, specializing in toys for infants and pre-schoolers.

By the 1960s, the company's sales plummeted as its toys came to be seen as outdated and old-fashioned, and Fisher retired from the company. Fisher-Price was sold to Quaker Oats in 1969, and has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mattel since 1993.